Childhood Friend of the Zenith

“Urgh…!”

The heat of his grasp was intense.

Not only did his flaming hand make Namgung Cheonjun feel like his neck was on flames, but it even felt heavy.

Physically, Namgung Cheonjun had an advantage over Gu Yangcheon.

He might not have been that much taller than him like before, but Namgung Cheonjun was still a bit taller than Gu Yangcheon.

However, despite this,

“Ugh…”

With his neck being choked, Namgung Cheonjun was immobilized.

He couldn’t move one bit as if his movement was restricted from everywhere around him.

He soon realized that this overpowering pressure that he felt was Gu Yangcheon’s killing intent, he screamed in his mind.

How could the killing intent of a martial artist who hadn’t even turned twenty yet be this dense?

Gu Yangcheon’s radiant eyes, glowing from the darkness, glared at Namgung Cheonjun.

Why did this bastard suddenly decide to ambush him?

“How dare a beast glare at me while grinding its teeth.”

Gu Yangcheon said, words Namgung Cheonjun couldn’t understand.

“You’re just looking for the perfect chance, with those fiery eyes, to devour me out of hunger.”

Gu Yangcheon began to smile as he spoke.

But it seemed way too evil for it to be a smile as he had a nasty expression that was indescribable.

Such an expression fit him very well which made Namgung Cheonjun feel afraid.

“You are just a brat, yet you don’t know your place.”

“Cghh.”

The grasp tightened.

Namgung Cheonjun tried to use his Qi, but it wouldn’t respond, frozen by fear.

…H…How…

How could this be happening?

He was chosen by the great one.

“Kgh…”

After receiving the power, he broke through his wall and reached Peak Realm in a few months.

His father had praised him, and his great-grandfather had commended his hard work in a letter.

His great-grandfather, who watched him with somewhat disappointed eyes whenever they met, had given him a compliment for the first time in a while.

This power was real.

Namgung Cheonjun became certain that this power could give him everything he desired.

However,

Why am I still…!

Why can’t I even escape from the bastard’s grasp?

“Look at your eyes, you better look away.”

“…!”

Namgung Cheonjun’s vision suddenly twisted.

Gu Yangcheon had thrown him onto the ground.

Namgung Cheonjun rolled a couple times on the floor without being able to land safely, and he quickly tried to stand up while groaning in pain, but Gu Yangcheon was already standing right in front of his eyes.

Pow!

“Ugh!”

His chin lifted, and his head snapped back.

He was struck without a chance to block,

without time to charge his inner Qi.

Namgung Cheonjun started to feel the same damned emotions he felt in the tournament of Dragons and Phoenixes when he fought against Gu Yangcheon, which were powerlessness and despair.

He thought to himself while coughing up blood.

I… I… I’m not someone who would be defeated by such a bastard like him.

He was the future Young Lord of Namgung Clan, one of the Six Dragons and Three Phoenixes, destined to lead his clan one day.

He couldn’t afford to fall behind an insect like him, neither in talent nor skills.

Why…

“Think about it a hundred times over.”

Namgung Cheonjun heard a voice.

He blocked the blood from his nose, preventing him from lifting his head.

“What reasons would I have to kill you?”

“…Ufgh.”

Unlike the rhythmic voice he heard initially, Namgung Cheonjun felt an overwhelming killing intent in Gu Yangcheon’s deepened tone.

It was just like back then.

The day he released flames after pinning him to the ground by his neck.

How could he possess such a dense killing intent?

Is it because he killed people before?

But Namgung Cheonjun also was experienced in putting blood in his hands.

He had taken many lives, both indirectly and directly, yet he had never encountered such killing intent.

Such a killing intent could only be possible after having killed a countless number of lives.

How could Gu Yangcheon be like that when he wasn’t even over the age of twenty?

Namgung Cheonjun persistently researched about him, but he knew that Gu Yangcheon was never put in a situation where he had to take the lives of that many people.

“After thinking it over,”

Press.

Gu Yangcheon’s foot pressed down on Namgung Cheonjun’s ankle.

“…Ughh!”

“I found hundreds of reasons. Reasons to kill you.”

Namgung Cheonjun then felt a tiny opening.

His pressure weakened and so did his killing intent.

Namgung Cheonjun could move again, his Qi flowing normally once more.

He didn’t hesitate.

Zap.

He channeled his Qi around his body, charging his Lightning Qi.

Without a sword, his skill in Sword Resonance allowed him to use his hand as a blade, though not as strong.

As he swung his arm to initiate an attack,

“Look at this. Another reason added for me to kill you.”

Namgung Cheonjun’s vision spun around once more along with the voice he heard.

Craack-

The sound of the Qi barrier Namgung Cheonjun had erected breaking.

The Qi barrier shattered into pieces and was scattered away.

He didn’t put his all into the barrier, but it definitely shouldn’t have shattered this easily.

How…?

Namgung Cheonjun wondered how the bastard was able to break it this easily.

Rather than break it, it sounded more accurate to say he ripped it apart.

Gu Yangcheon ripped the Qi barrier apart with his hand and kicked Namgung Cheonjun’s stomach and broke the flow of his Qi.

“Cughh!”

Namgung Cheonjun couldn’t even scream properly from the pain in his Dantian.

His Dantian wasn’t broken, but the Qi he had gathered scattered all at once.

The Lightning Qi he gathered had disappeared like a fog with just one hand movement from Gu Yangcheon.

This was despair.

Namgung Cheonjun felt more despair than ever before.

The power he received from the great one.

His strength after overcoming his wall.

Was it all just a child play for that bastard?

His gaze, which had been fixed on midair, suddenly shot to the ground.

Namgung Cheonjun didn’t even know why he was in the air.

From being lifted to rolling on the ground, he didn’t realize he was attacked or see how it happened.

Thud!

Namgung Cheonjun’s heavy body hit the ground.

He couldn’t even get back up like last time.

Gu Yangcheon was already stepping onto Namgung Cheonjun’s chest.

Namgung Cheonjun screamed again as Gu Yangcheon stepped on him hard, as if trying to break his bones.

From the start, Namgung Cheonjun has done nothing but scream.

“I felt this way ever since we first met. You were a weak brat, yet you showed your fangs to me, and it was annoying.”

His red eyes looked down on Namgung Cheonjun.

It was just like during the Dragons and Phoenixes tournament.

Namgung Cheonjun wasn’t able to sleep well for a while because of how those eyes haunted him.

“Do you know why I let you live despite having hundreds of reasons to kill you?”

What was the reason?

There were probably many.

He was from the Namgung Clan.

There was no way that he could dare to kill a future Young Lord of Namgung Clan, and he wouldn’t have been able to clean the mess up afterwards even if he did kill him.

Even he would find it difficult to secretly kill a noble’s clan blood relative.

Wasn’t that enough reason alone?

He was from the great Namgung…

“Be thankful to your sister.”

“…What…?”

“If not for her, I would’ve ripped you apart and burned you alive.”

Namgung Cheonjun couldn’t understand Gu Yangcheon.

Sister? His sister?

Namgung Cheonjun ignored his pain and barely managed to speak out.

“What… do you mean?”

“I have hundreds of reasons to kill you, but I chose to leave you alive only because of your sister.”

Gu Yangcheon spoke,staring into Namgung Cheonjun’s eyes.

He let him live because Namgung Cheonjun was the little brother of Namgung Bi-ah.

That was the only reason.

Despite a young beast grinding its teeth to bite their neck.

Despite his gaze filled with killing intent, without hiding hostility.

Gu Yangcheon let him live only for that simple reason.

With blood flowing from his mouth, Namgung Cheonjun asked Gu Yangcheon again.

“…What are you saying right now?”

“I’m telling you that I went out of my way to be kind and let you live, you fucker.”

Crack.

“Aghhh…!”

Namgung Cheonjun suddenly felt his rib break.

Then he felt Gu Yangcheon’s killing intent course through his body.

This was dangerous.

He was serious now.

“What… What are you trying to do…!”

“What, now you’re scared?”

“I am the blood relative of the great Namgung Clan. This is Namgung’s land, so if you suddenly- “

“You know that? If I burn your bones away, not even a trace will be left behind.”

He looked serious, speaking calmly as if he had done this many times before.

“…Why?”

Namgung Cheonjun asked.

“Why are you suddenly trying to kill me?”

He wondered.

Gu Yangcheon’s ambush was too sudden, too out of nowhere.

After hearing Namgung Cheonjun’s question, Gu Yangcheon began to smile.

“Why, you ask? You tried to kill me, yet I can’t do the same? What a funny logic.”

“…Do you have any proof that I tried to ki- …Aghhh…!”

Namgung Cheonjun screamed loudly mid-sentence.

Gu Yangcheon had suddenly twisted his arm in an unnatural way.

The strong body of a Peak Realm martial artist broke like a tree branch.

“Ha…! Ha…!”

He wanted to resist.

Namgung Cheonjun wanted to use his Lightning Qi and kill the bastard by striking his head, but he wasn’t able to.

“Look, even now your eyes are filled with the desire to kill me, so do I really need proof?”

“Bastard… Just how did you know where this place was for you to…”

Namgung Cheonjun spoke, but Gu Yangcheon grabbed his neck, uninterested in his response.

“Are you curious? Why I’m doing this to you right now?”

“Urgh…”

“You.”

Namgung Cheonjun felt like his neck might break under his grasp.

He was able to feel that Gu Yangcheon was controlling his strength just enough to not break his neck.

He had unbelievably precise control.

“What did you try to do to your sister earlier?”

“…!”

Namgung Cheonjun gasped at Gu Yangcheon’s question.

His expressions looked as if his secrets had been caught.

To be precise, he hadn’t intended to do anything to his sister.

He only had considered the idea.

He rather would have his sister for himself rather than giving her to a bastard like him.

He wasn’t suited for his beautiful sister.

The only person who suited her was himself.

But the bastard read that thought of mine?

“I know the emotion of greed very well.”

Namgung Cheonjun’s finger became twisted at the same time as Gu Yangcheon was talking.

“That’s why I know exactly what a bastard like you is thinking.”

“Ughhh…!”

“I’m pretty good with pain when it comes to torturing, but I didn’t want to have to do it again. Why do you keep on trying to get on my nerves, it’s really annoying you know.”

With those words, Gu Yangcheon pulled out Namgung Cheonjun’s nail.

His torturing method was brutally heartless.

It was torture with sheer strength without a concern for how much pain the tortured felt.

No, was it even torture?

Gu Yangcheon had no intention to hear any response from Namgung Cheonjun in the first place, so it wasn’t a torture.

After pulling out his fingernail, Gu Yangcheon burned Namgung Cheonjun’s fingertip with fire.

“Aghhh!”

“I said it earlier, that I have many reasons. Reasons for me to kill you. Yet I let you live for one reason.”

If it wasn’t for Namgung Bi-ah, Namgung Cheonjun would’ve died instantly by burning in flames.

Him having the name of Namgung may also have been one of the reasons that Gu Yangcheon let him live, but it was a noble clan that had been rotting away.

Because of that, such a name only made Gu Yangcheon hesitate for a moment at best.

“How am I supposed to respond when you try to harm me every time?”

“You… bastard…”

“The flame in your eyes is still alive, even when mine had died. You should be begging me to let you live while drooling all over right now.”

He looked as if he was enjoying the current situation, chuckling with a smile.

Gu Yangcheon lifted his hand from Namgung Cheonjun’s fingertip he was burning, and grew flames.

His flames shined so brilliantly under the night, but Namgung Cheonjun was overwhelmed by fear due to how much killing intent was stored within those flames.

“I thought about it for some time. I thought I did a fairly good job in teaching you a lesson, but your damned pride still hasn’t died.”

Gu Yangcheon thought to himself.

He broke his arm at first, then he made Namgung Cheonjun wet himself the second time.

He shattered his pride and self-esteem, so the Namgung Cheonjun shouldn’t have been able to stand up to him any more after that.

Gu Yangcheon was better than anyone when it came to this field, so he believed that he didn’t make any mistakes.

However, the bastard remained the same, felt feelings he shouldn’t for his sister, and even tried to put it into practice.

This bastard dared to take away the second moon that rose for me.

He tried to cross my last line, so my respect for him ended there.

“So I thought about it.”

Press.

“…!”

Namgung Cheonjun’s eyes widened greatly.

“I think it’s because of this annoying power that keeps on making you bark.”

“Wha… What…”

He became flustered.

Of course he would.

The power that he got from the great one, which had just started to integrate with his body, was being sucked away.

“What in the…! Why is this…!”

Then, Namgung Cheonjun realized one thing.

When his Divine Qi disappeared from his Dantian after his fight with Gu Yangcheon, Namgung Cheonjun believed that his Divine Qi disappeared because he used them despite not being ready to use it.

“No way… So it was also you back then…!”

“I may not be picky about side dishes, but I am picky about the type of Qi. I guess I’ll eat this even though it’s not tasty.”

“L-Let me go! Do you know what kind of power this is for a bastard like you to…!”

“What do you mean what kind of power this is you fucker, it’s a piece of a corpse that died a few centuries ago.”

“H-How could you absorb someone else’s Qi…!”

He struggled, but his body became frozen like a rock unlike his emotions as his power was being absorbed.

Even his burnt, shaky fingers froze like a rock.

“Please… Please, this is my everything.”

Namgung Cheonjun threw his pride away and begged Gu Yangcheon, but it was pointless.

All of the Divine Qi in his boy was absorbed.

Even the slightest bit of Qi that used to be in his Dantian flowed to Gu Yangcheon’s hand and escaped.

“N…No.”

Namgung Cheonjun felt despair.

The power that was going to make him rise higher than the sky had disappeared in an instant.

And to the person he despised the most.

He lost his honor, his beloved sister, and his last hope, the power he had been given.

“Ah… Ahhh…”

Namgung Cheonjun looked up at the night sky with a hopeless face.

The night was dark, and the usual bright moon wasn’t there to shine Namgung Cheonjun.

After watching Namgung Cheonjun, Gu Yangcheon spoke.

“What a funny guy. You lose all your hopes just because I took this power?”

Namgung Cheonjun heard a smirk.

It came from Gu Yangcheon who still had Namgung Cheonjun in his grasp.

I only took Namgung Cheonjun’s Blood Qi from the Blood Demon and left his normal Qi in his Dantian, yet Namgung Cheonjun looked like he had lost the world. It was funny to see.

Then, Namgung Cheonjun whispered.

“Kill… me.”

“What?”

“I’m asking you… to kill me now.”

Ha.

Hearing Namgung Cheonjun speak with all hope lost, Gu Yangcheon smiled.

I wonder why he grinded his teeth with that much effort if he was going to give up this easily.

He was pathetic even till the end.

“Brother-in-law, I don’t kill people that easily.”

“…If you are going to play with me even till the end, then I’ll just kill myself by biting on my tong…!”

Kwak.

Gu Yangcheon blocked Namgung Cheonjun’s mouth with his hand, preventing him from closing it.

It would’ve been problematic if he actually bit on his tongue.

“Ufghfhg…!”

“Why try for a cool death after living a disgusting life? You should continue living a nasty life if you choose this path.”

A shadow fell over Gu Yangcheon’s face in the dark night, but his red eyes still shone radiantly.

He had an expressionless face, yet his mouth smiled.

Namgung Cheonjun realized that something was wrong about the way Gu Yangcheon stared at him.

“You said it yourself, that this land belongs to the Namgung Clan.”

“Ugfhgh…”

“Even if I’m angry, it’s hard for me to kill someone here.”

Namgung Cheonjun became horrified when he saw Gu Yangcheon’s wide smile.

Something was different.

Gu Yangcheon was different from earlier when he tortured him.

When did he change?

Namgung Cheonjun didn’t exactly know what it was, but it definitely felt this way.

“You seem to know something, so I thought about torturing you, but there is no need it seems.”

Blaze.

“I wanted to test something anyway. This is a nice opportunity. Since you said you’ll die, I’ll use it right here. That’s fine, right?”

His flames gradually became bigger, then changed color.

“Ug…ghhhh!”

“You are okay with it? I knew you would say that.”

Namgung Cheonjun could see that Gu Yangcheon’s eyes, looking down at him, had also changed color.

If Namgung Cheonjun wasn’t mistaken, it was definitely a violet color.

***

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